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March 18, 2020

I know we are all over-saturated with information regarding the Wuhan Flu. This analysis is very interesting. The sample may be to small to be statistically significant, but it may indicate that things aren’t as bad as they might seem.

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February 19, 2020

I haven’t said anything in regard to this, as many of the initial news stories seemed over-hyped. However, it appears it may be as deadly as the Spanish flu, and if so, that really could result in a massive death toll, especially in less well developed countries. While anecdotal, this story sure seems worrying.

The Gloster Gladiator was the last RAF biplane fighter put into service. It was also the last biplane fighter to see combat service with the RAF. While most people tend to think of the Gladiator as proceeding the Hurricane and Spitfire, it actually was developed and built almost contemporaneously with those other two, more famous aircraft. The Gladiator was a progressive development of Gloster’s Gauntlet biplane fighter and it was developed and ordered as an insurance policy in case the more radical Hurricane and Spitfire failed to live up to expectations. They didn’t, and as a result the Gladiator had a very limited front line service with RAF home fighter squadrons, with only a couple of squadrons seeing limited service in the Battle of France and the Battle of Britain. However, the Gladiator saw more extensive service in the Mediterranean, Greece, Egypt and east Africa. In addition, the Gladiator was used by the Greek, Chinese, Belgian, Norwegian and Finnish air forces. Most famously, the naval version, the Sea Gladiator saw limited but vital service on Malta, constituting its only air defense for several months after Italy’s entry into WWII

This book is in the classic Osprey format. It starts with a history of the aircraft and then flows naturally into discussion of the use of the aircraft in a particular theater, highlighting the stories and combats of some of the pilots who became aces flying the aircraft. in addition, in the center of the book there are 9 pages of color side view illustrations of some of the aircraft flown by the pilots whose stories are told in the book.

While the book is by no means comprehensive it is an excellent introduction to the Gladiator and its combat history. While a little expensive if purchased at full price ($18) the titles in this series can often be purchase at a discount if you shop around. I recommend the book to anyone wanting a basic introduction to the Gladiator’s combat experiences in WWII.

January 24, 2020

Given the more normalized relations with China since Nixon’s visit in the early 70s, I think we’ve become numb to the danger the CCP poses. We defeated Soviet communism in the 90s and 30 years later we have a society where the young don’t know what communism is or the continuing horrors it represents. These are the people Orwell was warning us about. Story here.

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January 23, 2020

I posted this yesterday.Well, here is another case. Unfortunately the universities involved have little incentive to crack down on this type of behavior. The USA needs to restrict foreign students from some countries and incentivize the universities to monitor for this type of espionage.